Did you settle on your venue?

Is it possible that you could decorate the more rustic outdoor locations to your liking? If not, have you considered a DW (not necessarily out of country, but maybe another state)?

Have you looked at restaurants that might be indoor/outdoor?

Aww I’m sorry you’re having a hard time finding a venue! I’m not familiar with Florida since I live in California, but I can give you my personal experience with finding my venue. Not sure if this will help, but just wanted to share.
My FH and I both agreed on our #1 venue, but when I got the quote, it was way out of my perceived budget. We then went to tour 4 other venues. One of which I apparently had the wrong price information, and when we toured the venue, the price was way over budget. However, we loved the venue so much even though it was expensive. With that, we then said, well if we are even considering paying “out of budget” for this beautiful venue, we should go see the venue that was #1 on our list. Well I’m glad we did because we fell in love with that #1 venue even though it was more expensive than we anticipated, but it was definitely worth it. It was a good value for everything that was included in the venue, and the venue had the perfect look we were going for. It had everything we were looking for in a venue. We felt we were getting our moneys worth.
With all that said, this is your wedding day, and it should be exactly what you always envisioned. You don’t want look back and regret anything. Luckily, we have a long engagement so that will allow us to save money and spread out our costs.
Good luck!

Yes, mines was super simple and only costed a few hundred dollars. How many guests are you planning to invite?

Ultimately yes. I started with my budget, then next my “must haves” and went from there. I really wanted a venue that could accommodate and indoor ceremony and indoor reception without a room flip. BUT settled for a venue that matched my style more that could accommodate a covered outdoor ceremony & indoor reception and still in budget.

I settled on my venue as well. I really wanted an elegant ballroom in the city with views of the skyline and river. I settled for an elegant ballroom in suburbia. The city was just too expensive for the number of guests we wanted. But I have since fallen in love with my venue. It’s beautiful and has great amenities. I just won’t get the great photos.

We knew we really wanted to get married at this beautiful observatory but unfortunately they don’t do weddings. On a chance I spoke to the director and once he gave his permission to have our ceremony there (with reception off-site) we built the wedding around it. We appreciated all they were doing for us so we let them tell us if it would be day or evening, week day or weekend, how many people, etc. And you know what...it was so perfect! It was amazingly perfect!!! We had a small intimate ceremony in the telescope room and then we rented out the wine cellar of this amazing hotel which was perfect because afterwards we had a suite on the top floor with a wrap around balcony and amazing views of the city, perfect for our wedding night.

I settled to an extent. I really wanted a rustic setting like a barn...there was a great place that wasn't nearly as expensive as a barn but it was too far from our ceremony space (our church). Although the aesthetic isn't 100% what I want, its better than the "perfect" venue in other ways....for example its a brewery which FH and I both love visiting and trying new breweries all the time.

If you feel like you're settling too much definitely keeping looking. But I think "perfect" is a perception we chose to have or not have. I now view our venue as the "perfect" venue because its in the price range, close enough to the aesthetic, and has other quirks we're very excited about.

Good luck!

I pretty much settled. The more venues I saw the harder the decision became..
We initially liked the first one, then we liked another one we saw but ended up going with the first one bc of price. We knew we couldn't afford any other ones, especially ones I really liked so we just settled and that's because we had a timeline where we see ourselves within the next year so we needed to keep the wedding for this year.

I have a decorator who will hopefully make my vision come to life.
Everyone tells me that the wedding will be what we make of it

We are getting married at October Oaks in Webster, FL. Might be worth looking into!

Where in Florida are you? Longans Place is super affordable-- check it out.
Remember, you can always "settle" on the venue for something less expensive and use the money you save to decorate the way you want.

I would find a venue that has a space that can be decorated to fit your style. While I don't think you should 'settle' for a venue sometime you do need to change your expectations to better fit your area/price.

I would FH settled with ours. He originally wanted something grander but we couldn't find something that matched that vision and our budget. I loved our venue but it took time for him to come around.

I settled on mine too. We’re having our wedding at the restaurant we work at so it’s free. It’s definitely not my first choice but you cannot beat the price.

View Quoted Comment It’s not as much about the decor as the venue itself as it’s a farm/barn venue to get the woods that I want. Considering a DW, in Canada where my fiancé is from. I’ve found one venue that’s my dream venue but of course it’s out of my budget

View Quoted Comment Yes I’ve been looking outside the box as well... haven’t found any restaurants though

View Quoted Comment How did you decide to break your budget? That’s what I’m really struggling with...

View Quoted Comment 50-75 at most

Awww im so sorry
You should drive on up to North Carolina!
We have alot of venues just like you described!
Don't get discouraged.
Things have a way of working out better than we think sometimes.

I truly hope you find a wonderful venue and fall in love with it!

The first venue we looked at was fantastic but, way out of our price range. I didn't want to get my hopes up again...
So , I just started calling and getting prices over the phone before touring.

We got lucky and found an all inclusive package with minister, DJ and food for just a few hundred dollars more than the first venue. So we booked the second one. Turns out , I like it better than the first.

Don't give up! You will find your vision! Good luck! Keep us posted!

View Quoted Comment Our rationale was really about if the value is worth the cost. The venue came with all the rentals, amazing catering, an EPIC bridal suite AND groom suite which was important to both of us, a beautiful ceremony space with cascading stairs to walk down, and the venue was very unique and beautiful. We know our guests will be blown away when they see our venue.

It sounds like your perfect venue doesn't exist in your area...unfortunately. I would suggest picking one that is closest to your vision and decorating it to fit your style.